Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

39% Black
36% White
12% Latino
6% Asian
6% Multi

The numbers I see on dcps profiles and myschooldc

33.5% Black, non-Hispanic
5.8% Asian
13.2% Hispanic / Latino
0.2% Native American / Alaska Native
42.1% White non-Hispanic
5.3% Multiracial

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

39% Black
36% White
12% Latino
6% Asian
6% Multi

Very PC. So now we know why admission is by application instead of just test scores so the school knows which racial demographic gets checked.

How is it PC when every student has to meet certain criteria for admission, or advance in the admission process? Before a student can be invited to take the exam, every student needs a 3.0 gpa. There are MS students, from diverse backgrounds, with a 3.0 gpa. Next, students are required to pass the entrance exam. Again, students from all ethnic backgrounds pass the exam. Were you hired for your job based on test scores? Was there an interview?

I'm going to take a stab at your ideal demographics for SWW:

80% white - reinforces your belief that admission is merit based
10% Asian - the only other ethnic group that whites think are more worthy than themselves
5% Latino - hardworking
4% Multiracial - student is likely to have a white parent
1% African-American - seems about right and only if they are from Deal, Hardy, SH

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What questions do they ask?

Questions about the student? The school?

Is it a back and forth between the student and the interviewers or just a Q&A from the panel to the student?

If the parent interview is just 5 minutes, what do they ask the parents?

My child applied and was accepted last year. Chose to go elsewhere, however. Questions asked of the child included why he/she wanted to go to Walls, how he/she handled stress, and what books he/she had read recently. Parent questions were about child's strengths, how he/she would deal with a large workload, and reasons the parents wanted child to attend Walls.

Good luck to your child.

Same situation here and same questions. Our child is now in 11th and chose to go elsewhere. The interview panel for both our child's interview and our parent interview consisted of 2 students and 1 teacher.

Apparently there is a lot of emphasis at Walls at all stages on dressing appropriately for presentations, etc. Lots of teenagers need that advice and support, so I don't think it's a bad thing, although I wouldn't pass that "test" myself since we can and do wear jeans at my office.

Agree with the lack of transparency being a crazy thing for a public school. I have no idea how they get away with it year after year.

I think the perennial racial conspiracy theorizing on this board about SWW is really sick and unfortunate. People seem to forget that the interview panel is made up of students, including the vastly over-represented white demographic. Do people really think that the huge number of white student interviewers get instructions to gerrymander admissions and yet manage year after year to keep that a secret from their parents and the media (and social media)? Really? That's a rather pathetic conspiracy theory.

I agree that the lack of transparency and the general attitude at SWW (we are great, so we don't have to explain ourselves or communicate clearly why anyone would want to go here) and extremely off-putting. DS applied, was admitted and chose to go elsewhere for that reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they just take the top percentage of test takers, period? Would the school population look different? There needs to be transparency since it is a PUBLIC school.

NO one knows. And they won't tell you how much the test counts vs. the interview in the final analysis.

Actually some people do seem to know. This is a lawsuit overdue for happening.

You people are awful. seriously.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What questions do they ask?

Questions about the student? The school?

Is it a back and forth between the student and the interviewers or just a Q&A from the panel to the student?

If the parent interview is just 5 minutes, what do they ask the parents?

My child applied and was accepted last year. Chose to go elsewhere, however. Questions asked of the child included why he/she wanted to go to Walls, how he/she handled stress, and what books he/she had read recently. Parent questions were about child's strengths, how he/she would deal with a large workload, and reasons the parents wanted child to attend Walls.

Good luck to your child.

Same situation here and same questions. Our child is now in 11th and chose to go elsewhere. The interview panel for both our child's interview and our parent interview consisted of 2 students and 1 teacher.

Apparently there is a lot of emphasis at Walls at all stages on dressing appropriately for presentations, etc. Lots of teenagers need that advice and support, so I don't think it's a bad thing, although I wouldn't pass that "test" myself since we can and do wear jeans at my office.

Agree with the lack of transparency being a crazy thing for a public school. I have no idea how they get away with it year after year.

Anonymous wrote:Expect to be interviewed by children.
My 11th grader went through the process (and got in so no sour grapes here).
I was shocked when my husband told me that he was interviewed by students only.
Odd and not appropriate for children to be interviewing adults and rendering opinions about a family's suitability.

Are families admitted to SWW? I thought it was a high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

Yes but the demographics are perfectly balanced it seems which makes me think there is some students are selected to perfectly balance the diversity.

perfectly balanced = almost five times the proportion of white students as DCPS high schools in general?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they just take the top percentage of test takers, period? Would the school population look different? There needs to be transparency since it is a PUBLIC school.

NO one knows. And they won't tell you how much the test counts vs. the interview in the final analysis.

Actually some people do seem to know. This is a lawsuit overdue for happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

Yes but the demographics are perfectly balanced it seems which makes me think there is some students are selected to perfectly balance the diversity.

The scatter map for the wards of the city is also eerily balanced.

Email received today about SWW's upcoming interview. Heavy stress on what to and not to wear that day. It seems odd since SWW is a free dress school. Besides, we would dress down on the interview day?

All of the application HS have an interview requirement.

Anonymous wrote:What questions do they ask?

Questions about the student? The school?

Is it a back and forth between the student and the interviewers or just a Q&A from the panel to the student?

If the parent interview is just 5 minutes, what do they ask the parents?

My child applied and was accepted last year. Chose to go elsewhere, however. Questions asked of the child included why he/she wanted to go to Walls, how he/she handled stress, and what books he/she had read recently. Parent questions were about child's strengths, how he/she would deal with a large workload, and reasons the parents wanted child to attend Walls.

Good luck to your child.

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

Yes but the demographics are perfectly balanced it seems which makes me think there is some students are selected to perfectly balance the diversity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

39% Black
36% White
12% Latino
6% Asian
6% Multi

Very PC. So now we know why admission is by application instead of just test scores so the school knows which racial demographic gets checked.

Anonymous wrote:But SWW is overwhelmingly girls. 60% or so.

39% Black
36% White
12% Latino
6% Asian
6% Multi